Apple took what should have been a very embarrassing situation for the company and turned it into an opportunity to bash Microsoft. According to the company's Support website, some Video iPods totaling less than 1% of those available were found to be carrying the Windows RavMonE.exe virus. The affected iPods were those available for purchase after September 12th of this year.

The company acknowledged the gaff made by a contract manufacturer, but also feels that Windows has some blame in the situation. Apple stated, “As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it”. Apple believes the virus can easily be removed by up-to-date anti-virus software. OS X users, in addition to iPod nano and iPod shuffle users, are not affected by the virus.

I have to give it up to Apple. Rather then bury its face in the sand for the mistake it came out swinging and took a jab at Microsoft for allowing the virus on Windows in the first place. Not a bad spin, and not a bad way to turn lemons into lemonade.

Lets Blame Microsoft(9:05am EST Wed Oct 18 2006)So now it is no longer the responsibility of manufactures to keep there product save for consumers, it is the responsibility of the devises that are used to access it. So it is not Sony's fault there batters made laptops catch fire, it is the laptop makers fault for not fire proofing there computers? – by vision

C'mon, Brian – this is not objective reporting, it's fanboy-ism. – by grumpyoldman

Speechless…(9:47am EST Wed Oct 18 2006)Pointing the finger at Microsoft seemed like a reasonable action to them? What on Earth are Apple and the zealots going to cry about when Vista is released and the security issues are resolved? I can't wait to hear the spin… – by MSP

lol(9:50am EST Wed Oct 18 2006)I am not surprized since their customers are usually very stupid, likely to believe this baloney.

Lets see how easy i can spin thisn news, just like apple did: Apple computer admits it's own mac os x is limited in such a technical way they needed to use the more advanced Windows XP at their factories in order to manufacture the latest iPods. – by compres

Don't you get it…(10:06am EST Wed Oct 18 2006)Looks to me like that comment sounds more like a little 'sarcasm' directed at MS, a little poking stick, than a real complain. Everybody says the same thing in every other website or blog, probably not the best time for Apple to say it, but still I think there's nothing here, you geeks are making too much about this.Looks like you are more outraged about what they said than the actual screw up with the Ipods.Go figure.

– by riverama

for those of you too lazy…(10:18am EST Wed Oct 18 2006)to read the link to Apple's statement:

“…As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.”

I'd say that's taking responsibility, but also taking a potshot at a competitor– wow, hardly seen in the business marketplace.

In reality, there's a network admin for some contract manufacturer who's probably out of a job for allowing such a breach of a manufacturing machine (and not scanning production images, which would have taken 30 seconds one time– wow, what a dumb move).

T

– by ToeKnee

Wow.(10:49am EST Wed Oct 18 2006)Apple must have a wheel-barrow to carry it's balls around in. I'm not even upset, I'm just “WOW”. – by dustin

True Apple shows(12:29pm EST Wed Oct 18 2006)Wow- This just shows you what Jobs is willing to do to increase sales.

This is the true nature of a company, and well it already was showing in the Apple Commercials that to be honest are no where near the fact of Apple vs PC. If you look at those you will see subtle MS bashing in all of them, but this is just amazing that they would do this.

So if I ship a product that is defective when run on certian devices, I will blame devices for not anticipating that I would ship a defective item and move on.

Man I wish a company could sue for deformation of character, because MS has a valid case….but alas a company is not a person so no go there.

O well you Jobs lovers out there, the ones that preach he only gets a salary of $1, this shows you who Jobs is…He is the guy that takes a HUGE Bonus $52 million in total over 6 years and okays this strategy for bashing MS for nothing it did wrong.

Way to run a company Jobs *clap* your ethics and poise only show what most CEOs are about and how they run companies. – by asdfasdfasd

new to marketing(1:20pm EST Wed Oct 18 2006)“…Apple Commercials that… are no where near the fact of Apple vs PC. If you look at those you will see subtle MS bashing in all of them”

Are you new to watching commercials? Does any product advertise itself like “well, we're not perfect, but we're pretty good. Better than the competition, anyway, sorry to them for saying so, because we don't want to hurt any feelings…”

I don't care at all for the Apple campaign, but not because I think it's not the point of advertising to make the consumer think your product is the best, through exaggeration or outright lying. Know any ad execs? They don't live in the same world as you and I.

After the negative publicity over this, I'll bet you'll see this support doc changed a bit in the next few days.

“He… okays this strategy for bashing MS for nothing it did wrong.”

There is no evidence he approved the “strategy,” nor, if one is picky, was MS “bashed.” I do not think “we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses” constitutes a “bash” against MS. Maybe I'm just more realistic? Or maybe I've just had my fill of fixing Windows viruses, so I am also upset? – by ToeKnee

I like…(3:06pm EST Wed Oct 18 2006)…this new comment system. With the user registration the trolls seem to have vanished! Bravo Geek.com… – by MSP

This is a surprise?(6:59pm EST Wed Oct 18 2006)Pink iPods…one button mice..and now they are shipping these “things” with viruses?

Like I said, Apple will be out of business before you know it. – by NoiTardGirlyman

NoiTard(10:09pm EST Wed Oct 18 2006)ooh, a troll made it through. When did you say that Apple would be out of business? And when it that supposed to happen?

Did you see the news today? Apple reported quarterly earnings… it sold 1.61 million Macs during the previous quarter, up 30% from last year, and a company record for any three-month business period. 8.73 million iPods sold (up 35%), and their net profit was up 27% for the quarter over last year's same quarter, to over a half billion dollars.

Apple to Blame Almost as Much(3:45pm EST Thu Oct 19 2006)Actually, I never understood all the anger directed at Microsft from Apple people. The truth is, Apple is almost as responsible for MS's dominance as MS itself is. Apple, by keeping their hardware proprietary (and therefore, more expensive), they opened the door for the Wintel platform. In the early days of computing, when there was no clear leader, when you have equally capable Macs and Wintels side by side and the Wintels were a third less expensive, which do you think peoplke would go for? The truth is, Apple's small marketshare is as much their own doing as it is Microsoft's.

– by DaleReeck

Re: DaleReeck(4:41pm EST Thu Oct 19 2006)I think you state almost pefectly the reasons why Apple feels the need to bash MS at every turn. Way back when, Apple actually had the lead on MS in the newly forming micro computing world. Due to poor management decisions (mainly the one to keep the hardware proprietary), they lost the market to Gates. Jobs being Jobs, he can't stand the fact that someone else 'won' the market that could have, should have been his. He has encouraged a corporate culture of elitism to try and make up for past failures. That atmosphere leads to press releases like this, which try and place the blame anywhere but where it belongs – with Apple and their subcontractor. – by Jarink

“That atmosphere leads to press releases like this, which try and place the blame anywhere but where it belongs…”

It's not even a long article. Did you miss the part “[we are] even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.”

Sure I wish the lackey who wrote it had just dropped the whole thing and assumed responsibility, but it has not yet been edited by the higher ups. I doubt this is “official” Apple position. It was a busy week for Apple with the financial report yesterday, I still bet it will be changed. – by ToeKnee

This can affect corporate security badly!(4:44am EST Fri Oct 20 2006)GFI just responded to this issue with an article that warns about how easy it is for viruses and other malware to be introduced to corporate network. Companies are easily affected by iPods infected with malware, since most donít seem to be aware of the dangers of media players and other portable storage devices.

Top Management Involved(2:06am EST Sat Oct 21 2006)“It's not even a long article. Did you miss the part “[we are] even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.”

Yes, we all saw that part. But just the fact that Apple felt the need to bring MS into it and take their little shot shows real desperation IMO.

Also, most companies, especially big ones like Apple, tightly control press releases through their PR departments. While its possible that an “unoffical” announcement can get out from time to time, in most cases, an employee doesn't chew gum in public without the PR department's approval. I'm sure that with something as embarrassing as this iPod virus situation, any info or releases came right from near the top of management. This wasn't just some lackey.– by DaleReeck

I remain quite certain that the PR department will pull rank on Support when they get around to it… it was a big week for the PR dept with the quarterly results announcments. If they don't, I'll be disappointed in my favorite computer company, but it's really not an issue worth getting upset about. – by ToeKnee